I dive for Nate, throwing him off the track with just seconds to spare before Tora’s R8 comes sailing past at speeds that even make me uncomfortable. Dirt spits up under her tires and I throw my arm over my face, stopping the dirt from flying into my eyes.
“Fuck,” Nate grunts with wide eyes as she passes. He flies to his feet and races out onto the track in a panic. I get up off the dirty ground and before I can even find my footing, Nate’s fist is barreling down toward my jaw.
I groan on impact and despite how badly I want to return the favor, I can’t as by the time I recover, Nate’s back out in the center of the road, searching out his girl.
He watches intently as she disappears around the first corner and fear shines through his eyes. “If she gets hurt,” he says, not wasting a second to look back at me. “I swear to you, you’re fucking dead.”
Nate takes off at a jog surely to meet her at the finish line and I realize this isn’t a place I want to be. Yes, I just made this a shitload worse with Nate, but on the other hand, Tora gets to feel the adrenaline and excitement of being on the track. She probably needs this more than she knows and who am I, or even Nate, to hold her back from that?
I start heading back to my Charger, but I can’t help but watch her as she speeds around the track. She’s actually not too bad. Her technique is as shit as it comes, but she’s keeping up with her opponent and might even have a chance of winning this thing. Proving once and for all that Tora Roberts has balls of steel.
I find myself stopping to watch the show and laugh as I spy Nate at the finish line, more than ready to deliver a crowd-pleasing ass whooping. After all, getting involved in illegal racing isn’t exactly a good move, especially when it comes to good girls like Tora. That good nature of hers needs to be protected at all costs
Tora flies over the finish line and just as I knew she would, she does it like a fucking champion. Her car has hardly even come to a complete stop before people are screaming and shoving their way to get to her, but it’s Nate who’s at her door first. He tears it open and hauls her ass out of the car, but not a second later, she breaks free and starts running.
I go after her. “Tora?” She keeps going and I realize that she looks freaked out. I pick up my pace and finally catch up with her, grabbing hold of her elbow to slow her down.
She spins around, looking more than ready to lay my ass out. “Woah,” I say, holding up both hands in a show of innocence. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I was calling your name, but I guess you didn’t hear me over the noise.”
“Oh, um…sorry,” she grumbles, looking away. “I guess I owe you a thank you.”
I shrug. “No big deal. You wanted to race. Why should he get to stop you?” she gives me a small smile that doesn’t reach her eyes and I continue on. “Where have you been all week? Haven’t seen you at school.”
“Sick,” she lies.
“Right,” I laugh, shaking my head. “From what I just saw down on the track, I’m going to go ahead and say that’s a load of shit.”
Tora sighs and looks up at me. “What do you want, Jackson?”
“Let me drive you home.”
“I’m not going home and in case you didn’t notice, I have a car here already.”
“First off,” I say, indicating down toward the track where Nate is currently dropping down into her R8. “I believe your boyfriend is confiscating your car, and as for the party; Crystal Summers?” I question. She doesn’t respond, but her answer is pretty damn clear. “Come on,” I tell her. “Let me drive you there. You can let Nate sweat a little.”
Tora reluctantly agrees and by some miracle, I get her all the way to Crystal’s party without any extra drama. Well, there’s always drama with Tora, but the second I get her there, she’s crowded by Jesse and whisked away, never to be seen again. By that, what I mean is that she’s more than likely about to find the bottom of a Vodka bottle.
I walk through the doors of the party and have a look around. Crystal Summers is one of the cheerleaders and to be honest, this party is really lacking compared to some of the ones I’ve been to over the past few months.
Most of the guys on my team are here and have the cheerleaders in their sights, but I can’t find the energy to cross the room and spend the night with them. Instead, I find myself heading over to Crystal’s kitchen counter and grabbing a bottle of Jack before walking straight back out the door.